‘Please don’t kill me’: Security guard shot in Atlanta apartment complex

Witness tells police gunman recorded incident on cell phone
A security guard was shot and injured Thursday at a northwest Atlanta apartment complex, police said.

Credit: Henri Hollis

Credit: Henri Hollis

A security guard was shot and injured Thursday at a northwest Atlanta apartment complex, police said.

A security guard shot last week at a northwest Atlanta apartment complex begged his shooter to not kill him, a police report released Tuesday states.

When officers arrived at the scene Thursday at about 2:30 p.m., a man holding a gun was standing over the victim near the entrance of Columbia Grove apartments along Johnson Road, according to a report obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The alleged gunman, identified as Lee Anthony Forehand, began backing up after officers drew their weapons, and the victim was able to limp away from Forehand, police said.

The victim, who witnesses told officers was a security guard at the apartment complex, was shot in the thigh. Police applied a tourniquet just above the wound and the man was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. His condition was not released.

Forehand was arrested at the scene after attempting to hide behind a vehicle nearby, the report states. A gun was found on his waistband, along with 144 grams of suspected marijuana and several empty plastic bags inside his book bag, police said.

A witness told responding officers that she heard three gunshots and saw Forehand speaking to the victim. According to the report, the witness then saw the victim put his hands up and begin to walk away from the gunman before falling to the ground.

“The victim was lying on the pavement defenseless and stated ‘please don’t kill me,’” the witness told officers.

Forehand shot the victim once, the report states, then got out his phone and began filming.

Another witness told police that she saw Forehand fire multiple times and eventually shoot the security guard while standing over him.

Forehand is facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal attempt to commit murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony and possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute. He remained Tuesday at the Fulton County jail, where he was being held without bond.

The security guard shot Thursday is one of at least 10 shot in metro Atlanta since April 2021.

On May 18, a security guard was shot at Buckhead’s Fogo de Chão after restaurant staff called for help with handling an unruly patron, police said. Nygil Cullins, 22, tried to leave the restaurant when one of the restaurant’s security guards tackled him. According to police, Cullins then fired shots and struck the security guard. An Atlanta police officer shot and killed Cullins, who died at the scene.

Anthony Frazier, 51, who worked as a security guard at American Seafood and Wings, was shot and killed outside the restaurant on April 18, police said. Officers were called to the small strip mall shortly before 7 p.m. and found Frazier dead.

Fourteen days prior, an off-duty Cobb County officer was injured when shots were fired toward him as he patrolled Cumberland Mall. The officer had received word from a security guard to be on the lookout for two suspicious vehicles, according to police. Days later, the shooting suspect, 20-year-old Demarco Mauge of Duluth, was shot and killed by another Cobb officer during a traffic stop, the GBI said.